The ward 18 councillor for Edenvale, Clr Heather Hart, is frustrated at the lack of standards shown by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM).
“One just needs to take a look at Horwood’s Farm and the homestead, the circa 1901 home on the original farm donated to Edenvale by the then owners, the Horwood Family,” said Clr Hart.
“The homestead was, as recently as the 1990’s, a five-star restaurant where people came from far and wide for special occasions. The park itself was, up until the late 90’s, a place of such beauty that it was a favourite spot for taking wedding photographs,” she added.
According to Clr Hart, the EMM’s answer to the lack of maintenance and vandalism at the heritage site is to sell off the property to the highest bidder via a long term lease.
“To add insult to injury I, as the ward councillor, am not allowed to be told when this tender will be advertised in case I try to manipulate the system,” she said.
Another issue for Clr Hart is the Eden Mall Taxi Rank, which when built was a state of the art, modern taxi rank.
“Visit the Edenvale Customer Care Centre to see what it looked like when it was first opened and look at it now. Since taking office, I have complained unceasingly regarding tenders that are given to contractors who not only don’t not stick to the terms of the contract, but are not even penalised when this fact is brought to the EMM’s attention,” said Clr Hart.
“The Edenvale Skate Park, which much to my embarrassment considering the state of the place, hosted a skateboarding championship at the end of July and just a few weeks later was the scene of a gruesome murder,” she said.
Clr Hart has sent countless emails bemoaning the state of the skate park.
“I have also referred many interested parties to the EMM’s Real Estate Department with a view to them being allowed to lease the park,” she said.
Clr Hart added that the history of the Skate Park is interesting.
“This land was made available to one of our community-minded residents by the Edenvale Town Council many years back, to establish a skate park for Edenvale youngsters,” she said.
At the resident’s own expense, he erected all the buildings and facilities that still stand today.
“The difference was, of course, that in those days he maintained them,” said Clr Hart.
She added that when the EMM took over however, the facility fell under the Municipal Finance Management Act’s requirement that the municipality maximise the value of municipal assets.
“This meant that the EMM increased the nominal fee that the owner had been paying to a market related one, which was simply unaffordable,” said Clr Hart.
Attempts at negotiating with the EMM were unsuccessful and the owner refused to pay.
In return, the EMM cut the lights and water and the owner was eventually forced to walk away.
“Recently, I was again approached by residents who wanted to know what they needed to do to be allowed to manage the skate park and clean it up,” said Clr Hart.
The NEWS sent an enquiry regarding the Edenvale Skate Park to the spokesperson for the EMM, Mr Themba Gadeba, on Friday, November 14.
Comment was requested by November 20.
At the time of going to print, no comment was received.
